Mongolian Barbecue Buffet @ G Cafe (G Hotel), Penang.

Flipped through Star newspaper a couple weeks ago, the buffet promotion in G Hotel caught my attention. During the month of November and December, they are having Buy-1-Free-1 promotion for their Monday Mongolian BBQ buffet and Wednesday Roast and Grill buffet. No doubt, its a very good opportunity for one to savor one of the finest and best buffet in town, especially during these festive seasons around. The buffet is priced at Rm88++ per person, but since its a Buy-1-Free-1, one needs to pay approximately Rm51.04 only ! We chose the theme of Mongolian BBQ which falls on Monday, however, we were quite disappointed to see that there were not much barbecue thing around. Surprisingly, there were quite an amount of food served which I found interesting and worth the money, namely oysters, prawns that come in huge sizes, Baskin Robbins ice cream etc....Moreover, every customer will be served a glass of fruit punch instead of the usual "sky juice". Overall, I find the buffet promotion worth the money and would definitely coming back and try for the Roast and Grill buffet again !

Starting with the appetizers, the fresh greens from the wide variety of selection, arugula, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, olives, fennel etc... As for the dressings, they have a lot to offer as well, from the usual thousand island sauce and mayonnaise to the rarely seen chili lime, yogurt dressing etc....

The miso soup was decent but it was more to the salty side in my opinion. It is always recommended to have a bowl of hot soup before you get your hands on the icy cold oysters/sashimi/seafood.

Aside from the soup and fresh green salad, there were 8 types of appetizers as well; prawns salad, chicken sausages, fried fish cutlets, mango salad in Thai style, fried fish cake, otak-otak (dried version), cauliflower salad etc....Other than the fried fish cutlet, all the appetizers failed badly in my opinions, they were either tasteless or the taste was not right. I was very disappointed.

The seafood bar was rather impressive. It was way beyond my expectations to find fresh oysters here, due to the inexpensive price of the buffet. The mussels and the oysters were just okay in my opinion. The oysters were not that fresh, but considering the price for the buffet, I would give them a pass. However, compliments must be given to the prawns. They were gigantic in size and were very very fresh indeed. I can't seem to control myself but to engulf more than 2 big plates of the prawns.

Since the buffet was themed as Mongolian Barbecue Buffet, meat is obviously one of the main characters of the night. Although there were not too much barbecue meat, but they do have some other choices of meat out there, for instance, braised lamb in brown sauce, grilled beef with mushroom sauce and the barbecue beef. The chef will slice the beef for you upon request at the Teppanyaki Counter. Most of the meat were quite raw (probably medium rare) so they were very juicy and tender in texture. 

I will briefly introduce the main course offered. There were Sauteed Vegetables, Bolognese Pasta, Fish Curry, Braised Duck Meat, Braised Lamb, Grilled Beef with Mushroom Sauce, Stir Fried Rice Noodles, White Rice, Chicken Pie etc.....

One will need to pick their own desired ingredients (vegetables) near the counter before bringing them for the chef to cook. The chef will either stir fry the vegetables with beef or seafood or both, together with some sweet sauce. Capsicum, fresh onions and spring onions are always on my list when it comes to stir frying. They are definitely the best combination and the most ideal ingredients to go with meat and seafood as they enhance and bring the natural sweetness within themselves, to blend/mix well with the meat.

You might want to pay attention to this if you are a cheese lover. They have a cheese counter too, there were 3 types of cheeses offered, I am pretty sure that one of them was Cheddar Cheese. I have no idea on others. Anyway, there were some crackers provided to go with the cheeses, so does some walnuts, apricots, almonds, sugar coated nuts etc.

Indian Naan with Chicken Curry. The Naan was very crispy to my liking and it complemented well with the curry. The sufficiently flavored curry has successfully carried the curry flavor out with just a simple dip of the Naan into the curry. Lovely. There was a counter offering Prawn Noodles too, obviously I would not go for it as Prawn Noodles are very common here, which makes me thought that it was meant for foreigners.

Freshly cut fruits came next right after all the filling main course. There were quite a lot of fruits as well, Watermelon, Honeydew, Guava, Oranges, Wax Apple etc.....

Other than the usual fruits, Rojak (Traditional Malaysian and Singaporean Fruit Salad) was offered as well. Rojak sauce was provided right beside all those fruits, together with Chinese Crullers (油条) and some peanuts. Truly refreshing after a heavy meal.

Next on the desserts, there were quite a lot of desserts offered, just look at all these delectable mouth-watering desserts. The uniquely prepared desserts were quite good to my liking but I found that a few of them, were actually quite sweet.

Can you actually believe that they are serving Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream ? Unfortunately, there were just 4 types of flavor to let you choose upon. How great if they can provide at least 10 types of flavor......Anyway, the ice cream was very smooth and flavorful as expected. The 4 flavors include the signature ice cream of Baskin Robbins, Very Berry Strawberry, Green Tea, Rainbow Sherbet and Mint Chocolate Chip. I would not mind to have at least 3 bowls of ice cream if I still had the capacity.....

Upon finishing the meal, one can opt for their freshly brewed coffee as well. Heavy cream will be provided as well. Personally I think this was very good as it provides the flexibility to their customers. 

Ratings:

Price: 8.5/10 (1-3 expensive, 4-7 average, 8-10 cheap) **Based on the Buy-1-Free-1 Promotion**

Taste: 8/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Service: 8.5/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Parking: 7/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Service Charge: Yes 10%

Government Tax: Yes 6%

Additional Information:

Address: 168A, Pesiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang. (G Cafe @ G Hotel, Penang; right beside Gurney Plaza)

Business Hour: 6:30 pm to 10:00pm (Monday and Wednesday) ** Based on the Buy-1-Free-1 Promotion**

Contact Number: 604- 238 0000

Website: www.ghotel.com.my

Email: g4u@ghotel.com.my